Wastewater Overflow

The Gainesville Public Utilities Department responded to a wastewater overflow Wednesday, August 15, 2012 around 4:45pm behind the High Point Subdivision. A local realtor walking a parcel of property noticed wastewater coming up from the ground and called Gainesville Public Utilities. A Public Utilities crew responded to the site and verified the report; they immediately went into control mode to minimize the amount of wastewater entering Lake Lanier. Staff was able to restore the flow within about 2 hours from the initial notification. They setup a bypass pump; this pump was used to transfer wastewater from a manhole above the break into a manhole below the break. Staff found that a span of 15” corrugated sewer line was broken. They will continue working at the site on Thursday to complete the repairs. City staff estimated between 6,000 and 20,000 gallons of wastewater spilled onto the ground, they indicated approximately half the water entered lake Lanier. The area was cleaned and signs were posted. Hall County Environmental Health, Army Corps of Engineers and Georgia E.P.D. were contacted.